How to Improve and Streamline Policies and Procedures

Streamlining policies and procedures in a company setting can be a difficult process. Whether the company is a manufacturing plant or just a small office, it will benefit greatly from streamlining all policies and procedures that the company engages in. This project is difficult for one person to manage on a large scale. As this process requires the study of all levels of the company, it may take several years before the task is fully complete.

Research all of the policies and procedures that occur within your company or the company that you are working for. Take several days to observe each department of the company and what policies and procedures they do each day.

Take note of any procedures and policies that are redundant or slow down the productivity of employees. Find out how long it takes to get approval for tasks, along with any licensing, notaries or permissions from courts.

Evaluate each policy and procedure for cost effectiveness, efficiency and necessity.

Make a new policy and procedure plan that eliminates any unnecessary administration tasks, approvals or paperwork. For instance, employees can enter data into a spreadsheet and email it rather than printing out a hard copy.

Take note of any duplicate processes that occur in the company, such as the review of a project by several different people. Eliminate as many duplicate steps as possible. For example, a project that's reviewed by several people may only need one qualified review.

Ask employees, managers and even outside partners that work with the company what they would change about the policies and procedures of that company. This can bring a lot of faulty policies to light and help make a company that all levels are satisfied with.

Find the fastest and simplest way of completing tasks by watching several employees perform the same task. Once you discover the ideal way of performing that task, train all of the other employees to complete the task in that manner.

Repair and upgrade all equipment, machinery and computers in the company. This will reduce unproductive time and help speed the final process.

Inspect all manuals and training documents. Simplify all language and reduce all unnecessary parts of the manual to provide a clear and concise standard for completing tasks.

Gather all data, then create a proposal for eliminating unnecessary policies and procedures. Present the data to the owners of the company so that they can determine which changes to implement.

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About the Author

Brenda Priddy has more than 10 years of crafting and design experience, as well as more than six years of professional writing experience. Her work appears in online publications such as Donna Rae at Home, Five Minutes for Going Green and Daily Mayo. Priddy also writes for Archstone Business Solutions and holds an Associate of Arts in English from McLennan Community College.